A queer, Yiddish and anti-Zionist café in Glasgow that closed following "astonishing" levels of antisemitism is reopening in the US, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
The café - the Pink Peacock - closed in June 2023, due to "unchecked antisemitism in Scotland" according to the owners. At the time, the owners said the staff were subjected to “antisemitic harassing calls” and “direct messages, emails, phone calls, cyber-stalking, physical stalking, broken windows, doxing, attempts at Nazi-infiltration.”
The café's owners, Moishe Holleb and Miles Grant, aim to bring the café new life in Brooklyn's Crown Heights.
The Pink Peacock will continue to be anti-Zionist, which is a "voice" the owners feel is missing in NYC.
“It makes sense that this unique Jewish voice should exist in a place where there’s other Jewish voices as well,” Grant said. “We’re not just in the middle of nowhere in Scotland. We’re actually sort of among other Jewish communities here.”
The cafe had courted controversy among neighbors and it came to national attention in Scotland multiple times for its activism. In June 2021, Scottish police charged Holleb with disturbing the peace following a complaint that the cafe was displaying a tote bag that read “F**k the Police” in both English and Yiddish. The bag later sold out.